Stahlgrim wrote:Anyway, show me historical examples of someone using a heater/kite/round shield to cut through someone's plate/maille/lamellar armour and kill them. Then I will accept a shield edge blow as a killing blow.
so.... your sayin that with out an edge it can't be effective as a weapon? so hammers,maces,clubs,etc are unable to hurt or kill an man in armour including plate, lamellar and mail? so my friend who had his ribs broken by a sca spear when he was wearing mail was hallucinating? he will be happy to know it was all in his head.
Let me clarify what I had in my head when I said that. If the idea is that some guy with one of these shield-punches me, in my plate & maille, and tells me that I'm now dead, he's going to be sorely disappointed in my reaction.
The swords, maces & spears we use are representative of real steel/iron weapons. The shield was never an offensive weapon, its a shield. Its a blunt-edged piece of wood, both in history and in our game. It could be used as a weapon in a pinch, but by that token, so could almost anything. Our game is inspired (loosely) by history, and in centuries past, when people were set on killing someone they drew their sword, not their shield.
Now, if the idea is that shield blows are not counted as weapon strikes, but are allowed within the rules for strategic advantage, you're going to see a lot of smaller fighters getting beaten down by whoever can batter them with their shield enough to negate any discrepancy in actual skill with a weapon. Basically, might makes right instead of prowess. We've had that discussion at considerable length in the past, and the answer is that anyone under at
least six feet & 200 pounds is at a considerable disadvantage.
